


Out-takes

by untilweseeawingshot



Series: Baby Bea & [31]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Aunt Natasha, Babies are so unpredicatable, Baby!Barton, Baby!Hawk, Barton Brood, Battle of New York Mentioned, Bea gives Shuri more blackmail material on T’Challa, Bea is true to her parentage, Bea meets badass ladies, Bea nearly gives people heart attacks, Comfort, Cute, Everyone loves Bea, Everyone needs a crown, F/M, Family fun, Family time, First Steps, First Words, Fluff, Fun, Iron Baby, Iron Baby makes new friends, Like Father like Daughter, Mini Hawk, Parent Clint, Parent Pepper Potts, Parent Pepperony, Parent Stark, Pepper Potts is a mom, Playtime, Shuri makes fun of T’Challa, The start of a beautiful if heart attack causing friendship, Toddlers are like sponges, Uncle Clint, Uncle Rhodey, they soak up everything, tony stark is a dad, uncle bruce, uncle steve
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-04-30 20:42:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14505084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/untilweseeawingshot/pseuds/untilweseeawingshot
Summary: A series of out takes that are set at any point within the series up to the beginning of The Iron Family.Open for requests!





	1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer:

I’ve had a rest for a month and now I’m back with more adventures for Bea and those around her!

I’m taking requests for this part of the series that can be set from the moment Bea is born up to the point of the press conference at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming. From what I have read about where it fits in the MCU timeline this includes Black Panther too! So feel free to leave them in the comments if you have any!

It’s unlikely that I will be updating this as regularly as I did the series as I’m in exam season at the moment and have a few trips and events planned in the coming months but I will try my best!

 

 

On a note somewhat unrelated but still related to the series note:

I have seen Infinity War, I went to a midnight release in order to avoid spoilers but I understand that some people may not have had the opportunity to see it yet so please no spoilers anywhere here, not that there should be an opportunity as the series does not deal with Infinity War.

 

Anyway, now I’ve got that out of the way! On we go!


	2. The Box Maze

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pepper has finished humouring Tony with Fort Kick Ass after four days so Tony decides to re-purpose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's start off with something light hearted!

 

“Oh no, what’s happened to Fort Kick Ass?” Clint whined as he and Natasha stepped out of the elevator and into the penthouse.

All of their hard work from a couple of days before had been shoved against the window wall to their left, blocking out the majority of the light and the big grey cushions were being hauled aside by Bruce and Steve. A number of masking tape lines sprawled out over the floor.

“Pepper was done humouring us after four days.” Tony told them while holding Bea securely up on his shoulders who slumped forward resting both of her arms and her chin on the top of Tony’s head and gave a frown to accompany his statement. “But I have another plan for the boxes if the two of you would be interested.” He paused to gauge their reactions before adding “Banner and Cap are already in.”

“What’s your idea?” Natasha finally asked after a moment of silence.

“We’re going to re-purpose the boxes into a maze.”

“Yeah, maze!” Bea echoed, perking up enough to lift her head from where it rested on top of Tony’s.

Today Bea was wearing a knee length green sweater dress that had two layers of a sheer material at the hem. She wore black leggings underneath which tied with little green bows on the outside of her legs at the mid-calf, complete with as was usual a pair of grippy-bottom socks that were a similar shade of green to the dress.

Tony, Steve and Bruce were all dressed similarly to how Clint was, in an old pair of jeans and a t-shirt while Natasha wore an old black and white SHIELD hoodie with a pair of black leggings with a red stripe down the outside that Clint and Steve had dubbed her ‘Black Widow leggings’

“Is that what all the lines are for?” Clint pointed to the masking tape on the floor, following one of the closest lines with his pointing finger.

“You really do have eyes like a hawk.” Tony rolled his eyes.

Clint pulled a face in response.

“Now, now, boys.” Natasha patted each of them on an arm and winked up at Bea as she passed them. “I’m in.”

“Then I guess I am too.” Clint sighed, and joined Natasha in helping Steve and Bruce pull the cushions aside.

“Yay!” Bea cheered happily making all of the adult’s smile.

 

 

“So this is even going to be wide enough for us to crawl through?”

“That’s the idea,” Tony nodded. “They’re big enough boxes.”

“Yeah! Big!” Bea grinned, climbing into one of the boxes and promptly disappearing from sight in a flash of green before pulling herself up to sit upright. With a look of determination on her face she pointed forward and ordered Steve to “Cha’ge!”

Steve laughed at the toddler before obliging and pulling her around the room in the box while she shrieked happily. Tony grabbed his phone from where he had abandoned it and videoed the scene before him, captioning it with ‘Uncle America’ before sending it on to Pepper and to the phone he had given Steve.

“Ah Na!” Bea beckoned Natasha over when Steve stopped at the other side of the room.

“Looks like it’s your turn.” Steve laughed, letting go of the box and gesturing for her to take over.

“No, no, no…” Bea shook her head as Natasha took hold of the box. “Ah Na in!” Bea pointed into the box for Natasha to join her as she scooted to the very front of it.

“You heard the boss.” Natasha grinned, lifting Bea out of the box and holding onto her until she settled in the box herself then setting the toddler down in her lap.

“Cha’ge!” Bea ordered once again, pointing forward.

This time it was Tony, Bruce and Clint’s turn to laugh as Steve pulled Natasha and Bea on a circuit around the room.

“Okay, that’s enough.” Tony said once he had finished laughing. “We need to get this finished before Pepper gets back.”

“So we just have to lay the boxes out along the lines?”

“Yeah, open end to open end.” Tony nodded. “But leave the parts where it needs to be open on all four sides and we’ll do those last.”

“Come on Bea, you can help me.” Natasha told her as she lifted the toddler out of the box.

“Okay!” Bea grinned.

Once Natasha set her down on the floor Bea ran to the closest box, grabbed it and ran back over to where Natasha had started to set up their first line, dragging it behind her.

“Since my daughter has abandoned me for her favourite Aunt it looks like you and I are construction partners Banner.”

“Do either of you want to trade?” Bruce joked while Tony stood behind him looking pointedly at the back for his head with his best mock offended expression.

“Nah, we’re good.” Clint chuckled, attempting to rest his arm on Steve’s shoulder before adding, “You really are huge, aren’t you?”

 

 

Two hours and many small squabbles over whose box was who’s the lines of the maze were mapped out in boxes. They were now onto the tedious task of taping them together along with splitting some of the remaining boxes in half and using them to create roofs for the four-way intersections. This was also the time Pepper decided to arrive home early.

“Why do you all have to humour him?” She sighed, kicking off her shoes on her way to change into come more comfortable clothes. “’No’ is a very easy word to say, it’s only two letters. One syllable.”

“Hi Mama!” Bea popped up in one of the intersections that had yet to be given its roof.

“Hi baby!” Pepper greeted her with a grin. “Are you having fun?”

“Yeah! Lots!” Bea clambered over the boxes that made up the lanes leading to the intersection and ran over to Pepper for a hug.

“Hey Pepper!” Natasha called, her head poking out from one of the entrance/exits to the maze.

“Really?!” Pepper shook her head after giving Bea a hug and a kiss on the cheek before setting her back down on the floor where she immediately dove into the maze at the closest opportunity.

“Steve can even fit through, though it’s a little difficult for him to turn corners.” Natasha added.

“ _Earths Mightiest Heroes._ ” Pepper commented as she continued on her way out of the room. “Only give them a toddler and leave them alone, and you wouldn’t know it!” She added over her shoulder as the door shut behind her.

“She’s going to join in.” Tony stated, not even looking up from where he was taping boxes together.

“Hi Dada!” Bea popped her head out of the gap in the boxes closest to Tony.

“Hi princess.” He reached over and ruffled her hair.

“Of course she is, you two are so well matched I don’t know why it took you so long to get together.” Natasha told him as she crawled out of the maze.

“And yet, I still don’t know how I put up with him.” Pepper said as she re-entered the room, barefoot wearing a light cotton t-shirt and a pair of shorts. “So, what are we doing?”

“Taping the boxes together so they don’t come apart when you crawl through” Bruce told her, handing her one of the not yet started rolls of tape.

“I hate you guys.”

“No you don’t,” Clint grinned “And that’s the problem.”

Pepper just sighed and glared at him while she started to tape some boxes.

 

 

“This is actually fun.” Peppers muffled voice came from somewhere within the box maze.

“I’m glad you think so. I’m stuck.” Steve grumbled from somewhere else in the maze.

“Hi Unc’ ‘Teve!” Bea chirped as she crawled right up to the super soldier’s face.

“Hey sweetheart.” He tried to smile as she turned around easily and quickly to crawl away from the blockage he was causing.

“Where are you stuck Capsicle?” Tony asked, but his voice was faint so he must have been at the other side of the room.

“I don’t know Tony. I can’t see through cardboard.”

“Hey, guys?”

“Yeah Bruce?”

“I’m stuck too.”

“Try moving backwards. Or wriggling that worked the last time I got stuck.” Steve advised.  

“Yeah, that won’t work.”

“Why not?”

“I’m stuck around a corner part.” Bruce mumbled ashamedly.

“Are we going to have to cut you guys out?”

“I really hope not.” Steve sighed.

“Okay, I’m going to try and come to someone’s rescue. I don’t know which of you it will be but it’s whoever I get to first.” Natasha offered, crawling along the section of the maze that she was in.

“Hey Nat, can it be me?”

“You’re stuck too Barton?” Tony asked as he managed to worm his way around one of the corners by holding his breath.

“Not at the moment, I’m just a little lost.”

“Lost how?” Pepper asked, trying to squint through one of the cracks between boxes to see where in the room she was.

“I’m at an intersection and - - Oh, hey Bea!”

“Hi Unc’ C’int!”

“It’s okay Nat. Can you show me how to get out of here Bea?”

“Yeah! Follow!” Bea turned around in the box and crawled back the way she had come.

Clint followed behind her closely so he didn’t lose sight of her when she moved so quickly and with so much ease.

“I can see someone’s feet!”

“Touch them and I can’t be held responsible if I kick out.”

“Hey Bruce.” Natasha lifted her head as much as she could to see how Bruce was stuck. He was laying on his side, bent around a corner. “I don’t know how we’re going to do this.” She was silent for a moment as she considered the options. “Okay. You’re going to have to try and pull yourself around while I push you from this end. So breathe in and let’s get going.”

“There go!” Bea announced as she and Clint reached one of the exits to the maze.

“Thanks kiddo. Are you coming too?” Clint asked, as he peered into the box he had just crawled out of.

“No, stay.” She told him, crawling along the box corridor perpendicular to the one they had just crawled down.

“Okay. Glad at least you’re enjoying yourself.” Clint smiled. “Right Cap, where are you?”

“In this part.” Steve managed to raise his arm enough to bang on the roof of the section he was stuck in.

“I see you. I’m going to come and un-tape that section so you can get out.”

“Thanks Clint.”

“No problem.”

 

 

“What happened to you guys? And what’s with all the boxes?” Rhodey asked as he and Maria entered the lounge.

“Made a maze!” Bea told them from her seat on the floor between Pepper and Tony.

All seven of them were sat around the coffee table that was littered with empty and half empty Chinese take-out boxes on the big grey cushions that had occupied the centre of Fort Kick Ass.

“We built a maze out of the fort and kept getting stuck, all of us apart from Bea anyway.”  Pepper told them, offering each of them an unopened box of food. “Got your favourites.”

“Thank you,” Maria said as she accepted the box and sat down on an unoccupied cushion next to Clint. “How come parts of the maze are in pieces?” She asked as she settled into the cushion and Rhodey sat down beside her.

“Unc’ ‘Teve an’ Unc’ B’uce go’ stuck!” Bea giggled.

“You guys got that stuck you had to be cut out?” Rhodey laughed.

“No, we had to un-tape the sections. Nat tried to help Bruce get unstuck and then got stuck herself in the process.”

“It definitely wasn’t one of my finer moments.” Natasha shook her head as Maria tried her best not to laugh.

“Maze is fun!” Bea beamed “You try!” She then added.

“Ooo, no Bea, I’m good thank you.” Rhodey tried to refuse politely, Bea just pouted at him.

Maria hesitated for a moment but eventually agreed. “Okay, but only if you and your Aunt Nat come too.”

“Yeah!” Bea jumped up from her spot, ran over to where Natasha and Maria were sat and promptly grabbed a hand from each and tugged them towards the maze. “C’mon c‘mon!” She tugged on their hands as hard as she could.

“Okay, okay!” Natasha laughed at the toddler and glared at Maria.

“Have fun ladies!” Tony called.

“And try not to get stuck!” Pepper added.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it!   
> Much love and as always any kudos, comments or constructive criticism as appreciated!


	3. Footage Of The Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oky_Verlo requested:  
> Bea somehow coming upon the footage of either Tony's fall from the Battle of New York of worse the footage from the fight against Killian. In either event Bea see's a parent falling and doesn't understand that what she is seeing is the past and is terrified that Mama or Dada is hurt.

 

“You stay still for a few minutes while Mommy gets you your juice okay Bea?” Pepper told the two-year-old as she got up from the couch.

“’Kay Mama.” Bea responded with a nod, handing her empty juice bottle to Pepper.

Bea watched Pepper leave the room and waited for the door to close before diving across the couch to grab the remote for the TV. She pressed the buttons like she had seen Tony and Pepper do whenever they watched TV. She paused every-so-often when she saw something she thought she recognised, but stopped when she saw a big green man that looked like her Uncle Bruce.

“Unc’ B’uce.” She muttered to herself, setting the remote down beside and snuggling back into the couch cushions, cuddling the Hulk teddy close to her chest.

Then the camera cut to three people fighting what looked like scary grey monsters in the streets who were also flying around the city on some weird metal things. She squinted at the screen when she caught sight of a flash of red, white and blue, propelling a lady with red hair up into the air so she could grab onto one of the weird flying machines.

“Unc’ ‘Teve! Ah’ Nat!” She sat forward again and pointed at the screen, enthralled by what she was seeing.

That was when the screen cut to red and gold armour she knew only too well.

“Dada!” She squealed happily and pointed again, now watching the footage with a grin, until her Daddy disappeared through the big, dark hole in the sky. She stared at the screen for what felt like an eternity to a toddler before the hole started to close up and she saw him fall back through and towards the ground.

For the first and what would probably be the only time in her life Bea tossed the Hulk teddy away from herself as she scrambled down from the couch and ran for the kitchen.

“MAMA!” Bea screeched as she shoved open the kitchen door.

Pepper turned sharply from where she stood at the kitchen sink and dropped Bea’s juice bottle on the floor in her rush to console the toddler.

“What’s wrong sweetheart?” She asked pulling the toddler to her in a tight hug.

Bea managed to wriggle free enough from the embrace to point frantically at the door to the lounge area. “Mama! Dada falling!”

“What? Where?!” Pepper stiffened.

The last thing Tony had told her was that he was flying to Washington to check on the new engines for SHIELD and meet up with Steve, Natasha and Clint while he was there. What could possibly have happened?

Pepper took a deep breath to compose herself before addressing her daughter again.

“Where did you see Daddy falling baby?”

“TV! TV!” She resumed her frantic pointing to the door.

“Okay.” Pepper took another breath and stood up, taking one of Bea’s little hands in one of her own. “Let’s go and see what’s on the TV.”

Bea lead her into the room by yanking on her hand.

“Quick! Quick! Quick!”

They got to the TV in time to see Tony in his armour on the floor with The Hulk tearing the mask off and Steve and Thor also around him.

“No! Dada hurt!” Bea shouted, shaking off her hand free from Pepper’s and running to the TV.

Pepper quickly snatched the remote up from where Bea had abandoned it on the couch and jabbed the button to turn off the TV, allowing herself a second to breathe a sigh of relief.

“Dada!” Bea screamed, still facing the TV.

Pepper had to pick her up and carry her over to the couch where she tried her best to calm the toddler down but Bea was practically inconsolable. So Pepper just held her, rubbing her back and telling her that everything was okay until there was enough quiet for her to be able to explain.

“JARVIS, tell Tony I want him home now.”

_“Yes Miss Potts.”_

“Thank you.” She picked up her phone and checked the date. Two years to the day. The news must be doing some kind of special. “It’s okay princess.” Pepper continued to rub soothing circles on Bea’s back while the hysterical tears had quietened into little sobs. “Daddy is okay princess, I promise.”

Bea lifted her head from Pepper’s shoulder to stare at her.

“He is, really.” Pepper tried to ease her back a little so she could look at her while she explained, but the toddler kept a tight hold of Pepper’s shirt, so she handed her the Hulk teddy she picked up from the floor instead, which she gladly accepted. “The video that was on the TV was from a long time ago.”

Bea just sniffled and stared at her.

“It was. From before you were born even. And Daddy has been here all the time, hasn’t he?”

Bea nodded.

“He’s okay I promise you.” Pepper leaned forward and kissed her head. “In fact,” Pepper’s phone beeped and a new message from Tony popped up. “He’s on his way home to us right now. So, you’ll see him soon, and you’ll see that he’s okay.” Pepper gave Bea a tight squeeze before trying to temporarily extricate herself from the toddler’s grip. “I’m just going to get your juice sweetheart, I’ll be back in a minute.”

“No!” Bea cried. “No jus. Stay. Mama. P’ease?”

“How about you come with me?” Pepper scooped her up and positioned her on her hip. “We’ll get some juice and some snacks then we’ll snuggle up on the couch and wait for Daddy to come home?”

Bea just sniffled again, clinging to both Pepper and the Hulk teddy.

“Okay, that’s what we’ll do. Come on.” Pepper carried her into the kitchen where she did as promised, gathering snacks and drinks before they settled on the couch in silence, with still the occasional sniffle and tears, waiting for Tony to get home.

 

“Good evening ladies! Lights of my life! I’m home!” Tony called as he stepped out of the elevator holding the pizza box out in front of him with both hands.

“Dada!” Bea yelled, practically launching herself at him in a way that attached her to his legs like a little vice and almost made him drop the pizza.

“Hey sweetheart,” He repositioned the pizza so he could hold it with one hand and scooped her up with the other arm.

“You okay Dada?” She asked, prodding his face with her brows furrowed with concern.

“Yeah, I’m perfectly fine princess.” He looked to grin down at her and that was when he saw the puffiness of her eyes. “Are _you_ okay?”

“Mm hm.” She mumbled burying her face in his shoulder.

Something was definitely off but he carried her over to where Pepper was waiting on the couch and set the pizza box down on the coffee table.

“Hey honey.” He gave Pepper a quick peck on the lips. “What’s wrong with the bumble Bea?”

“They were showing old footage from the battle of New York on the news today. Someone,” She nodded at Bea, her head still buried in Tony’s shoulder. “Found it on the TV while I was getting her some juice. She saw you fall, and she thought it was now and you were really hurt.”

“Oh sweetheart.” He hugged her close to him. “I’m okay, I promise. Those things that you saw happened a long time ago.”

“Mama said.”

“Mommy already told you that? Good, then why are you still upset baby?”

“You not here.”

“Because I wasn’t here today? You don’t need to worry about that, I was visiting your Aunt Nat and Uncle Steve and I went to check on some jet engines while I was there. Nothing exciting. And then I got us some pizza on my way home.” He pointed to the box he had set down. “Do you want some pizza?”

Bea nodded, still holding tightly onto Tony.

“Okay,” He slid from the couch and sat on the floor in front of the table with his back leaning against the couch.

Pepper rolled her eyes and waited a second before joining them. She opened the box while Tony got Bea settled sitting with him. Tony grabbed Bea a slice and then one for himself while Pepper got her own.

“See, nice safe family time.” Tony kissed Bea’s head and then Pepper’s cheek. “Family time with my two most favourite people.”

Pepper smiled and turned enough so that she could lean against Tony’s side but still eat her pizza unobstructed.

“Love oo Dada. G’ad you okay.” Bea sniffled as she ate her pizza.

“I love you too princess.” Tony ruffled her hair while reaching for a second slice of pizza.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oky_Verlo I hope you liked it and I'm sorry it took me so long!  
> Exams are over now so I have a lot more free time on my hands so this is a little reminder that requests are open! Feel free to leave them in the comments!   
> Much love and as always any kudos, comments or constructive criticism as appreciated!


	4. Miracle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin Rin requested:  
> I would personally love to read when Bea had just been born and Tony holding his baby girl for the first time :) :) :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I need to apologise, I've been so busy that I didn't realise until today this hadn't actually posted last week when I tried to post it!

 

It had been a long and frustrating day, and that was only in Tony’s opinion so he could hardly imagine what Pepper was and had been feeling all day. But the ending had been the best moment of his entire life, nothing would ever beat the miracle that was currently asleep in his arms, bundled up in soft pink blankets.

He was a dad. And despite having nine whole months to adjust to the idea he still hadn’t and now she was here it was even more surreal. He had been holding her from the moment Pepper handed her over because she needed to sleep and couldn’t see his way to putting her down anytime soon, so he just slowly paced the private hospital room silently staring at his daughter’s tiny face.

“I still can’t believe it kid.” He whispered. “You’re an absolute shock and a miracle because I never expected to be a dad in my life. I thought that the point in my life where I might even consider it was well and truly over and yet, here you are. All perfect and already wrapping people around your tiny fingers.” He lifted one of her little hands slightly with one of his fingers. “I mean, you’ve had me absolutely hook, line and sinker from the moment your Mommy told me that you existed but that’s beside the point.” He smirked to himself.

“There are so many people who already love you and can’t wait to meet you. You’re going to be the most loved kid on the entire planet. Uncle Rhodey won’t admit it yet but he loves babies and he’s definitely going to love you. Hopefully you’ll at least like him in return. And then there’s my new-ish friends. The Avengers. I know, it’s a ridiculous name but, what can we do? We’re stuck with it now. I’m not sure how they’re going to react around a baby but they’ll get used to you. Who knows, you might even bring crotchety old Capsicle out of his shell a little more. I’m kidding really, he’s not half as bad as when I first met him but I suppose being frozen for almost seventy years will do something like that to a person.”

He paused for a moment considering each of the people who were probably going to play a rather large role in his daughter’s life. Rhodey and Happy for sure, the rest of The Avengers most likely and JARVIS though just technically a computer programme, definitely. Oh, and the rest of his bots, can’t forget about them!

“Banner is likely to freak out the most. He’s going to be afraid of hurting you, but he won’t, I trust him and you should too. Happy could possibly give you the impression that he doesn’t like you because he wants to act the tough guy but in reality, he’s just a big softie and when you’re old enough all you’re going to have to do is look at him the right way and he’ll melt. Though that is probably going to be the same for all of us.”

Tony stopped speaking for a few minutes as he continued to pace the room, rocking Bea in his arms.  It had been Pepper’s suggestion to have Maria as her middle name because she knew Tony would want to honour his mother but didn’t know if he would be able to cope with it being her first name. And she was right, he wouldn’t have been able to face calling her Maria every day, so Beatrice Maria it had become.

From the moment they had said her name would be Beatrice everyone had immediately been referring to her almost exclusively as Bea. This had become so much of a thing that once she was born (and after he and Pepper had finished crying) he sent out mass text to them all that was just the bee emoji. He hadn’t checked his phone since but had heard it ping several times, he glanced over to it on the chair when he saw it light up again. When he looked back down to her Bea was staring up at him with her clear blue eyes.

“Hey princess.” He cooed softly, extending a finger to her which she grasped immediately. “Yep, you have me wrapped right around your tiny fingers, forever and always.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rin Rin I really hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it! And again I'm sorry it took so long!   
> In general I'm sorry requests are taking a little long (my internet situation isn't fantastic at the moment) but I promise I'm writing and will upload them in the order that I get them with a few little ideas of my own thrown in between too :)


	5. The Black Panther

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> EAnIL requested:   
> So will you do Bea T’Challa and Shuri? You know like Shuri is meeting with Tony to exchange technology while Bea her shenanigans with T’Challa and when Tony and Shuri saw them Shuri can’t help tease her brother, then Bea accidentally give them an idea for a new project.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've just found out that I'm graduating from university with first class honours and I'm in such an amazingly, fabulously good mood so I thought you needed to share in my happiness by giving you an update!

T’Challa hadn’t been so put out when Tony initially asked him to keep an eye on the three year old while he gave Shuri an extensive tour of the labs contained within the newly refurbished Avengers compound. He thought that nothing could compare to handling Shuri when she was the same age.

Bea was very much enjoying his company. When T’Challa and Shuri had arrived at the compound and been shown to the private living quarters by Happy, Bea had been hosting a tea party, with her Dada as what seemed to be the guest of honour. Bea was wearing a yellow princess dress that Shuri had immediately recognised to be that of Belle from Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and struck up a conversation with the toddler as T’Challa and Tony exchanged greetings and caught up a little. Tony had been wearing a cardboard crown on his head which made it slightly difficult for T’Challa to take him seriously, the same crown had been deposited on one of the counters as Tony and Shuri headed out of the room, with Tony calling out for him to help himself to whatever while they were gone.

Now he sat cross-legged on the floor at the child size table in the middle of the living area and Bea grinned across it at him.

“My Dada is a sup’rhero. Are you a sup’rhero?” She asked.

“I would not quite call it a superhero…”

“But do you stop the bad guys?” Bea interrupted him.

“Well, yes. When I have to, but…”

“Then that makes you a sup’rhero!” Bea insisted.

“I suppose.” T’Challa conceded with a smile.

Bea still grinned back at him. “What’s your sup’rhero name?” She asked excitedly.

“The Black Panther.” He told her.

Her eyes widened in interest, waiting for more information before clarifying, “Like the big cat?”

“The _very_ big cat. With very sharp claws and teeth.” T’Challa made gestures with his hands to indicate the claws and teeth, earning delighted laughter from the child.

“How did you get to be a sup’rhero?” She had now abandoned her imaginary tea in favour of hearing stories from her new friend.

“It is a tradition passed down through my family. My father was the Black Panther before I was and his father before him. The name passes down from the King or Queen to their oldest child, or oldest younger relative if they do not have children.” He explained as simply as he could.

“So cool.”

For a moment he thought she was joking but she just gazed at him with genuine interest all over her young face.

“I wanna be a sup’rhero when I g’ow up and stop the bad guys like Dada. But Mama said no.” She pouted.

T’Challa smiled at her honestly. “Perhaps she is just trying to make sure that you are safe.”

She nodded while still frowning but the look melted quickly from her face when she realised that there was another question she wanted to ask him. “Dada told me that you’re a real King! Do you have a c’own?” She asked indicating the plastic tiara that adorned her head.

“Yes, I’m the King of Wakanda. But no, I do not have a crown, where I am from we have these instead.” He held out his hand to show her the rings on his finger. “Like being the Black Panther they are also passed down from the current King or Queen to their oldest child when they reach a certain age, so that they will have one and the child another.”

“Cool.” Bea nodded fascinated before shooting up from her chair and rushing over to one of the counters at the opposite side of the room. She clambered up onto one of the chairs and then onto the counter itself, retrieved something from it and was back down on the floor before T’Challa had time to fully register the panic running through his system at her obvious disregard for her own safety. He smiled and shook his head; Like father, like daughter.

“Here!” She offered him the cardboard crown that Tony had been wearing earlier. “Since you don’ have a c’own you can have this one!”

T’Challa smiled at the show of generosity; like father, like daughter indeed.

“Thank you.” He accepted the gift.

“Pu’ it on!” She insisted, still beaming at him and just like that T’Challa placed the crown on his head and was left wondering when he had fallen under the spell of the young Stark. “Cookie?” She asked pointing in the direction of the kitchen area of the room.

“I’m sorry little one but I don’t know where your parents keep the cookies.” T’Challa apologised.

“I do.” She told him, springing up from her seat again and running towards the same area she had indicated.

“What are you doing?” T’Challa asked, following quickly and closely behind her.

She stopped for a moment and looked at him like he was mad. “Cookies.” She pointed again.

Bea clambered up onto one of the stools situated by the breakfast bar that was joined onto the regular kitchen counter, almost giving T’Challa a heart attack as he lurched forward ready to grab her should she wobble. From the stool Bea made her way onto the counter while T’Challa held his breath, refusing to even take his eyes off of her to blink for fear she would fall. He seemed to have lost his voice to protest to her actions too as when he opened his mouth to insist she got down from the counter and told him where to look he couldn’t make any noise come out of his mouth.

After walking along the counter top for a moment she stopped at the cupboard just before the sink, prying the heavy door open carefully. She squealed happily as she reached into the cupboard and pulled out a ceramic cookie jar shaped like the helmet of the Iron Man suit. She held the cookie jar in both arms and nudged the cupboard door shut using her head while T’Challa watched her completely dumbfounded at the sheer determination of the toddler.

“Foun’ ‘em!” She announced proudly, holding up the cookie jar as best she could to showcase her prize.

“I can see.” He smirked. “Here,” He offered to take the heavy looking jar from her as she approached him. “I will take that while you climb down onto one of these before you get hurt.” He patted the padded seat of one of the stools.

“Okay.” She handed the jar over carefully and did as she was told.

As she climbed down T’Challa found the lid of the jar and opened it. He sat on the stool beside hers and offered her the jar. She peered into it seeming to consider her options for a moment before pulling out a milk chocolate chip cookie with dark flecks of fruit in it.

“You too?” She asked gently pushing the jar back towards him to insist he got himself a cookie.

He looked into the jar and was met with a number of choices. “What would you recommend?”

“Dese one’s haf’ bu’berries in!” She told him, holding up her cookie. “Best ones!”

“I will take your recommendation.” He smiled and grabbed a cookie identical to Bea’s.

While they ate T’Challa kept a hand hovering behind Bea to ensure she didn’t lean too far back and fall off of the stool. He had to admit that she was right too, this cookie was probably the best he had ever eaten.

Once they had finished eating T’Challa helped her down from her seat and replaced the cookie jar in the cupboard to save himself the miniature heart attacks associated with the allowing the child to do it herself. Bea made her way back to her tea party table, retrieved a green stuffed toy from one of the other plastic chairs and clambered up onto one of the couches instead. T’Challa, poured himself a cup of coffee that didn’t smell as good as any he would get at home but would have to do and sat on the couch beside her. He was about to take his first sip when she spoke up.

“So if you’re the B’ack Pan’fur are dey your fav’rite animal?” She asked, eagerly awaiting his answer.

“They are one of them, but I do quite like elephants.” He told her. “What is your favourite?”

“Pan’a bears! An’ f’amingoes!” She announced with a grin. “Bu’ I like el’phants too! I like they’re tunk!” She used her arm that wasn’t holding the green stuffed toy to imitate an elephant’s trunk, trying her best to make the noise to accompany it.

T’Challa could help but join in when she laughed at herself.

“You do too!” She encouraged.

“Me? Pretend to be an elephant?” He asked.

“Yeah! Yeah! You do!” She clasped her little hands together in anticipation and watched him expectantly.

“Alright.” He laughed. He set his cup of coffee down on a side table and used his arm just as she had to imitate an elephant’s trunk and made the noise as best he could. This landed the three year old in a fit of giggles which he found infectious, until he noticed Shuri and Tony stifling their laughter by the doorway, something they stopped doing once they realised they had been spotted and began laughing loudly instead. He also noticed Shuri’s kimoyo beads directed at him.

He pointed at her. “Delete that footage!”

“Not happening brother.” She managed to stop laughing long enough to answer. “I’ve already sent it to Mother, Nakia and Okoye!”

“Please don’t send it to M’Baku.”

Shuri rolled her eyes but smiled. “Okay, I won’t.” She rolled the bead in her palm back in line around her wrist with the others.

Tony managed to compose himself before approaching them. “Have you been having fun Bea?”

“Yeah!” She turned to grin at him. “We had cookies!”

Tony started laughing again when he noticed the slightly stressed expression on T’Challa’s face. “She climbed up on the counter and got them by herself didn’t she?”

“Yes, she did.”

“I should have warned you about her insistence on doing things for herself.”

“Safety shields…” Shuri muttered.

“What?” Tony and T’Challa asked in unison, turning to her.

“The shields that I made in the blankets.” She reminded her brother before turning to Tony. “The ones that I was just telling you about.”

Both men nodded in acknowledgement.

“What about them?” T’Challa asked, failing to see where his sister was going with this.

“They could be changed and made into temporary safety shields for kids who almost give their parents heart attacks by doing reckless stuff…” Tony murmured just loud enough for the two of them to hear, shooting a pointed glance at Bea and then the kitchen counters.

“Exactly!” Shuri grinned, “Temporary safety shields that just pop out of a little device that you install of whatever surface you want.”

“No more fiddly baby gates. You just press a button and out it pops.” Tony gestured with his hands to accentuate his point. “So much easier, and more convenient.”

“You could even make them portable, easier than installing them in every single room.” T’Challa added.

“Put them as high up the wall as you like to set the height of the shield, keep them out of the reach of the children so that they can’t turn them off.”

“I remember when Shuri was younger than Bea’s age and our mother and father installed loads of those baby gates around the more dangerous areas of the palace. Nobody could open them on the first try apart from Shuri when she got herself a chair or something else to stand on.”

“Oh, Mother has shown me some of the videos of that!” Shuri laughed, winking at Bea.

“I was glad to see the back of those things.”

“Right! Kids always work that stuff out if they can reach it but if they can’t…”

“A lot safer.” T’Challa nodded.

“No more heart attack moments.”

“Brilliant.”

“The first joint venture between Stark Industries and the country of Wakanda!”

“Nakia says you make a very handsome elephant.” Shuri cut in, making Bea laugh.

T’Challa put his head in his hands. “I’m never going to live this down.”

“Not by the sounds of things.” Tony patted T’Challa’s shoulder sympathetically. “And definitely not judging from the video I also have on my phone that I may or may not have sent to Pepper, Rhodey and Hill.”

“Great.”

“It’s okay brother. It was cute.” Shuri assured him, still laughing slightly. Her kimoyo beads vibrated against her wrist. “Okoye thinks it was adorable and she says that W’Kabi is a little insulted that your other favourite animal is not a rhino.”

“Just how long were you stood there?”

“Long enough brother, long enough.”

Tony chuckled at the siblings slight bickering as he returned with the same cookie jar, offering it to Shuri first, then Bea and then T’Challa before getting one for himself.

“No telling Mommy, okay Bea?” He instructed as he returned the jar to the cupboard.

“Yeah Dada” Bea nodded.

“That’s my girl.” He ruffled her hair, perching on the arm of the couch where she was sat while Shuri sat on the other couch.

They ate their cookies in comfortable silence until Shuri received another message.

“Mother likes the crown.”

T’Challa breathed forcefully out of his nose and glared at his sister, he had forgotten he was still wearing the cardboard crown.

“I think you can keep it if you want, suits you.” Tony smirked and T’Challa turned his glare on him. “What do you think Bea?” He asked.

“Yeah keep!” Bea grinned as she hopped down from the couch and retrieved a blue plastic tiara from her little table. She pulled herself up to sit next to Shuri and offered her the tiara. “For you.”

“Aw, thank you.” Shuri smiled and bent so that Bea could reach up to put it on Shuri’s head. “You’re adorable.”

Bea grinned. “I like you.”

“I like you very much too!” Shuri matched Bea’s grin.

 

A couple of days after Shuri and T’Challa had returned to Wakanda Bea was in the workshop with Tony as he worked out some recurring problems on his newest version of Peter’s spider-man suit when Tony received a message from Nakia.

One was a picture of T’Challa heading up the Wakandan ‘council’ with the cardboard crown on his head and the other was a picture of Shuri working in her lab wearing the blue plastic tiara with the caption: ‘Your daughter is a fantastic influence.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EAnIL I hope you had as good a time reading this a I did writing it because I had an unbeleiveable amount of fun with it once I got going! :D  
> Still sorry that updates are coming slowly! My internet situation has not improved and doesn't look to be close to doing so though i'm hoping to have it sorted in the next couple of months!   
> Much love to you all and as always any kudos, comments and constructive criticism is appreciated!


	6. Language

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pepper was going to kill him. Tony had broken the unfixable and Pepper was going to kill him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My internet situation is still horrendous, so this is just a little one I wrote on my phone so that I could actually post something this month!  
> I have the others requests plus some extras written up but they’re so much longer and on my computer so I can’t post them at the moment.  
> Thank you all for bearing with me on this <3

“Dam.” She paused. “Dam.” Another pause. “Dam!”

Sam looked up from where he was examining the improvements Tony had insisted on making to his wing pack from the moment he saw the (as he had termed it) outdated technology. “What is it cutie?”

Bea tugged on the leg of his jeans that was closest to her and pointed up to the table behind him. “Jus.”

Tony didn’t even look up from what he was doing. “Say please.”

Bea either didn’t hear Tony or acted like she hadn’t and just stared up at Sam with her sweet little face and pleading eyes and repeated herself with more of a question this time. “Jus?”

“Yeah sure,” Sam reached over, grabbed the juice bottle and passed it down to her. “There you go.”

Bea grinned up at him as she accepted the bottle.

After giving it a moment, this time Tony did look up. “Bea, say thank you.”

She was having a drink from her bottle so she didn’t respond right away but Sam cut in when she grinned at him again.

“Don’t worry about it, no need with a smile like that.” He tapped her on the nose and she giggled.

“No wonder you and Steve are such good friends. Got you wrapped right around her tiny fingers and this is only the second time she’s met you.” Tony commented. “You guys let her get away with anything.”

“From what I’ve seen you hardly have room to talk!” Sam accused. “Daddy’s little princess.” Bea nodded vigorously. “See, she knows.”

“I know, I’m terrible... I can’t help myself. She just gives that cute little grin that you’ve just been victim to or talks in that sweet little voice and everyone melts.” Tony sighed. “And I mean everyone. Happy, Rhodey, Hill, you. Every single Avenger. Thor’s friends back on Asgard. Literally anyone who visits and meets her falls under her spell.”

“Well she’s a cute little charmer.” Sam said and then suddenly laughed. “You’re going to love it when she’s a teenager.”

“Don’t you start flyboy, or I'll snap your wings clean off.” Tony waved the tool he was holding in Sams direction threateningly.

Sam continued laughing. “So, I’m guessing you’re hearing that a lot?”

“Too much.” Tony answered quickly. “I’m dreading it and she’s barely two.”

“Nah, she’s smart. She won’t be so easily bowled over by anyone. I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

“Don’t have anything to worry about? Have you seen Pepper? Bea’s going to be absolutely beautiful and you think I don’t have anything to worry about.”

“And if she’s anything like Pepper up here,” Sam tapped his head. “She isn’t going to be taken in easily by anyone or anything.”

“Can we stop talking about it?” Tony waved a hand to dismiss any more comments and cringed when it connected with his coffee cup and swiped it to the floor. “Shit.”

“S’it.”

Tony and Sam had moved to clear up the mess but stopped in their tracks.

“S’it.”

“No...” Sam whispered, noting the pained look that now covered Tony’s face.

“Pepper is going to kill me.”

“S’it.” Bea repeated again with a grin.

“No, no, no, no, no...” Tony ran his hands over his face and was seriously considering jumping out of the window before Pepper got home. “Okay. How do I deal with this?”

“S’it.”

Sam had turned away from the situation so that Bea couldn’t see him barely containing his laughter. He cleared his throat and turned back around to Tony.

“I don’t see why I have to help you.”

“You’re here, Pepper knows you’re here, she’ll hold you accountable too.”

“S’it.” Bea said again, grinning at Sam. Clearly he wasn’t hiding his amusement at the situation well enough.

“Okay honey,” Tony crouched to Bea’s level and placed his hands on her shoulders. “You have to stop saying that word.”

“Why?” She questioned.

“Because it’s a bad word that you shouldn’t say.” Sam answered.

“Bu’ Dada said it!” Bea frowned and pointed at Tony accusingly.

“I know I did princess, but I shouldn’t have.” Tony shook his head. “So you won’t say it again right?”

Bea frowned some more but nodded her head. “‘Kay Dada...”

Sam had turned away again, still trying his best not to laugh and undermine anything Tony was saying.

“Good girl,” Tony pulled her into a hug.

  
Sam stayed in the workshop with Tony and Bea for a couple more hours, until Steve was finished up training with Natasha and Clint, and rejoined the super soldier for their super secret person finding mission.

When Pepper got home Tony had relocated himself and Bea into the lounge area and they were watching some movie about some animated talking insects.

“Mama!” Bea called out in greeting, looking up from her space on the floor.

“Hey princess, have you had a good day with Daddy?” Pepper asked as she kicked off her shoes and sat on the couch beside Tony.

“Yeah! Fun!” The toddler grinned.

“That’s good,” Pepper smile sand then turned to Tony. “Have you sorted anything for dinner?” She held up a hand before he could interject. “Take out doesn’t count.”

“Then no...” He admitted. “But, I can do some pasta and some chicken...” he trailed off when he saw the way that Pepper was looking at him. “I’m getting better! I actually follow the recipes now!”

“I know,” Pepper’s smile was betraying her urge to laugh as she patted him on the arm.

Bea has stopped paying attention to the movie and was watching her parents instead. She reached up to grab her juice bottle from the coffee table but knocked it on the floor instead.

“S’it.”

Tony and Pepper both started and stopped talking. Pepper just stared at the toddler. Tony once again felt the need to launch himself out of the window.

“ _What_ did she just say?”

“Pepper, I can explain...”

“You had better!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it!  
> Much love and as always any kudos, comments or constructive crisitcism is greatly appreciated! ❤️


	7. Firsts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> RinRin requested: Bea learning how to walk with the Avengers following close behind or competing to see what her first word would be.   
> So I decided to do both.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m back! Sorry it’s been so long since I last updated but I got a new full time job in September and as much as I love it, it’s running me a little ragged and I don’t seem to have two seconds for myself at the moment! But I have a little time off coming up and my internet situation is finally sorted so I should be able to write a little more and then post more regularly like I was doing before!   
> ANYWAY Enjoy!

There’s a bit of debate amongst whether children walk or talk first, or so Tony and Pepper had read, but each child is different and for Bea the steps came first.

“C’mon princess you can do it.” Tony encouraged from where he sat a short distance across from where Pepper was helping Bea to stand on wobbly little legs.

The little girl frowned at him and made a noise that was something akin to disagreement with his assessment before wiggling free from Peppers grasp and taking an unsure step forward.

“That’s my girl. You’ve got this.” Pepper told her, her hands still hovering by Bea’s sides should she be needed.

Bea took another wobbly step forwards Tony, and another, and another. By the time she reached him she was giggling madly and fell into his waiting arms. Tony and Pepper shared matching proud grins.

“You did it princess!” Tony praised, hugging Bea tight and kissing her head. “I knew you could do it!”

“Perfect sweetheart!” Pepper joined Tony’s chorus of praise as she gave the little girl a tight hug of her own.

“You better have gotten that on film.” Tony warned Dum-E who chirped in affirmative response.

 

From that moment on Avengers Tower descended into chaos.

 

Dum-E and You had taken to following Bea around whenever she moved when she was near to them, ready to lend a supporting surface to her should it be needed.

Somehow nobody mentioned it to Clint so when he was looking after her and she disappeared when he turned his back he almost had an aneurism and placed a panic-stricken phone call to Natasha. She’d almost laughed in his face at his stress when they had found Bea behind one of the couches, grinning up at them before she pulled herself up and took some shaky steps out from her hiding spot, followed dutifully by Natasha before tipping backwards and landing on her bum on the floor giggling.

Everyone became incredibly protective of her from the moment they saw her move. Thor and Steve both followed a step behind her whenever she toddled around, getting ready to catch her should she wobble or fall.

“Well done little one!” Thor’s cheerful encouragement boomed around the room as Bea toddled on still unsure legs between her parents and adoptive aunt and uncles, showing off her newly acquired skill with favourite Uncle Bruce following dotingly behind her.

Bea clapped her hands together delightedly and smiled at him from her seat on the floor where she had fallen on her bum by Tony’s feet.

“You’re such a clever girl princess.” Tony praised as Bea gripped Pepper’s leg to pull herself up from the floor.

“C’mon Bea, you can do it.” Natasha encouraged from her spot on the floor resting against Clint’s legs, holding out her arms for her to drop into.

Bea took a couple of faltering steps towards her only aunt while still holding onto anything she could grab before quickening her pace as she let go of her hand holds and grabbing Natasha’s hands when she reached them. She giggled happily as Natasha pulled her onto her lap and kissed her head.

“Look at you, growing up so fast!”

“She’s going to be causing as much mischief as her Daddy in no time.” Bruce laughed.

“I’m going to need stress therapy.” Pepper put her head in her hands and shook it slowly from side to side while the others laughed.

 

  * -



 

When the words did eventually come she remained true to the Stark name and they were anything but typical.

“Come on Bea, can you say Dada?” Tony asked as he sat on the floor in front of her with his legs crossed.

She opened her mouth but instead of speaking she just smiled at him. Tony groaned and Natasha, Steve and Rhodey laughed.

“Look man, I think you’re going to have to accept that you’re not going to be the kids first word.” Rhodey told him when he finished laughing.

“He thinks that if he repeats it enough then eventually she’s going to say it back.” Pepper said as she joined them, picking Bea up from where she sat on the floor and sitting down on the couch closest to her. “And she might, but it won’t be the first thing she says. Will it?” She cooed at the girl in her arms, lightly tickling her, forcing a delighted giggle to erupt from her. “No, it won’t! How about Mama?” Pepper suggested. “Can you say Mama? Ma-ma?” Pepper encouraged.

Bea pulled a face as though she was trying to form the words before bursting out into another giggle, making Rhodey, Natasha and Steve laugh again.

“You guys think you can do better?” Tony challenged.

“No. I think you should just wait, she’ll speak when she’s ready.” Steve said.

Natasha however moved to sit with Pepper and Bea, the little girl immediately twisting herself around so she could stare at her aunt. She smiled.

“Hey sweet girl.” Natasha cooed, reaching out to tap Bea’s nose with one of her fingers. Bea reached out to grab the finger and Natasha let her, huffing a small laugh. “You’re so cute.”

“No buttering her up with compliments.” Rhodey ordered. “Make your move Romanoff.”

The assassin turned Avengers turned to glare at him. She put her attention back to Bea. “Okay sweet girl, can you say Aunt Nat?” She asked. “Aunt Nat?” She repeated slower when Bea just looked at her blankly.

Bea screwed up her face as though she was considering it but still never said a word.

Natasha felt a little defeated but tried again one more time. “Aunt Nat?”

Bea looked as though she didn’t understand and turned to stare at the others in the room.

“Swing and a miss.” The sentence was followed by an undignified yelp as Natasha kicked Tony sharply in the shin. “Rhodey?” He muttered, rubbing a hand on what he could feel to be an already forming bruise. “Care to try?”

“What are we trying?” Clint asked as he and Thor returned with the lunch they had been sent out to collect.

“Competing for the Iron Baby’s first word.”

While they were talking Rhodey had stolen Bea from Pepper and settled on another couch with her.

“Rhodey.” Bea just stared up at him, a little perplexed. “Can you say Rhodey Bumble Bea?” He asked, repeating himself slower when she still just stared at him. “Rho-dey?” Bea pointed at him with a wide, sweet smile. “Yeah, that’s me!” Rhodey exclaimed happily, grinning back at her. “All is forgiven. I’ll take that as my win for today.”

Bea crawled over to him on the couch and reached out to hug him. “Ah!” She demanded.

“Okay, okay.” Rhodey pulled her into a tight hug, when he released her she beamed up at him. “Definitely taking it as my win for the day.”

“My turn!” Clint claimed, sitting at the other side of Bea.

When she noticed him she abandoned Rhodey to show her other Uncle some attention.

“Can you say Uncle - - No…” Clint stopped himself. “That’s too much… How about Hawkeye? Hawk-eye?”

Bea looked at him and after a moment shook her head and Natasha was unable to contain her laughter.

“Not like you did much better Nat.” Clint muttered as he sulked.

“At least I didn’t get a resounding ‘No’. Hawkeye.”

“Thor, you giving it a go? Or are you sitting out like Capsicle?” Tony asked as the former SHIELD agents stuck their tongues out at each other like children behind him.

“If everybody else is trying I might as well give it a try.”

“Be my guest.” Clint offered Thor his seat next to Bea and hit Natasha on the head with a cushion as he passed her to sit with Steve.

“Ah!” Bea reached out to Thor and scooted to sit closer to him.

“Hello little one.” Bea grabbed onto his hands with a grip like a little vice. “Can you say Thor? It’s much easier than what they have been trying to get you to say.”

“Ah!” Bea repeated, squeezing his hands to help herself stand up and toddle closer to him, giggling as she bounced up and down slightly on the couch cushion. She seemed to have completely ignored his request.

“We’re taking that as a no.” Tony said. “Ding-ding.” He mimed ringing a bell. “Next contender please!”

“Come on Steve you have to have a go.”

“Honestly I’m good.” Steve threw his hands up. “She’ll speak when she’s good and ready.”

“Alright then I’ll do it for you.” Natasha told him. She got up from her seat on the couch (which Tony promptly stole) and crouched next to where Bea was stood between Rhodey and Thor. “Hey Bea.” The ten month old turned her gummy smile to her. “What about ‘Cap’?” She suggested. “Can you say that? It’s even easier than ‘Thor’.”

Bea appeared to consider and even opened her mouth as though to speak before seeming to decide better of it and returned to her bouncing.

“See, she’ll speak when she’s good and ready. Won’t you sweetheart?” Steve winked at Bea who smiled back and made grabby gestures with one hand while still holding onto Thor with the other.

Any ordinary child would be at least slightly overwhelmed by the amount of attention that she was receiving but Bea absolutely revelled in it. For the remainder of the afternoon she toddled and was passed around between the adults depending on who’s attention she wanted at any given time. She seemed too show no preference just getting a little bored after a while and then moving on to someone else, until Bruce returned to the Tower.

“Hey Bruce!” Pepper greeted him when she saw him exiting the elevator.

“Hey,” He returned the greeting.

“Had a nice time with the wonderful Dr Ross?” Tony asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Bruce pointed to him. “It’s not like that.”

“But it could be.” Tony added.

“Stop it.”

Tony held up his hands in surrender.

“Ah!” Bea called out to him to claim his attention and she moved as quickly as her little legs could carry her towards him.

“Hey Bea.” Bruce smiled as he picked her up. “Have you had a good day?”

“Ah!” She nodded once.

“That’s good!”

“We’ve been competing for her first word, so she’s been getting lots of attention today.” Natasha told him.

“I’m going to tell you guys what I’ve been telling Tony. Some genius kids don’t say a single word until they’re a few years old. She’ll speak when she’s ready to.”

“Just how long have you been trying to drill ‘Dada’ into her as her first word?” Pepper asked Tony, fixing him with a stern, accusatory glare.

“Well… You see… Um…” Tony struggled over what to say.

“Un Buce!”

Everyone stopped and turned to where Bruce was stood, holding Bea. Bea prodded him in the chest with one of her little fingers.

“Did she just?...”

“She did…”

“I thought I was hearing things…”

“Un Buce!” Bea repeated.

“Would you look at that.” Pepper smiled.

“She can say ‘Uncle Bruce’ but she can’t say ‘Hawkeye’?” Clint mumbled.

“Stop pouting. She didn’t say ‘Cap’ either.”

“I knew it!” Natasha swatted Steve’s chest. “I knew it was bothering you!”

“Caught out now Cap!” Tony laughed.

“Well, I mean, I’m not saying it wouldn’t have been nice…”

“No, no, no… No backtracking now Rogers!” Rhodey laughed.

“Un Buce!” Bea exclaimed again. “Un Buce!” She insisted, prodding Bruce again.

“Y- - Yes. You’re right! That’s me!” Bruce praised once he regained his composure after the shock. “You’re such a clever girl!” He hoisted her up a little higher so he could kiss her head.

“Someone has a favourite!”

The very next day Tony bought her the Hulk teddy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Much love and as always, any kudos or comments are greatly appreciated!


	8. Baby Barton

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bea considers a mini hawk shaped sidekick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the second unscheduled hiatus, some stuff happened that I wasn't prepared for, but, I digress!
> 
> SO I initially wanted to do this one as part of the original 30 but I kind of lost steam halfway through writing it so I replaced it with something else but kept hold of the file just in case!   
> It's only a short one to tide you over as my updating schedule has kind of gone out the window.   
> Enjoy!

“It’s so much better now that you guys all know about Laura and the kids. It means we can do stuff like this.” Clint commented from where he was sprawled out on a couch.

“Sit around with the kids all day while the ladies get a break?” Tony asked, trying to look around the arm of the other couch which he was laid on.

“Exactly.”

Since Sokovia and the birth of his third child they all (apart from Natasha of course) saw considerably less of the archer. So it was nice when they could do stuff like this, even though it was often without the others.

Bea was currently sat on the floor next to Nathaniel in his carry seat, watching Sesame Street on a Stark pad. She was leaning lightly against the seat and holding the Stark pad so that Nathaniel could see too. The baby babbled happily and clapped his hands together as they watched Elmo on the screen, Bea laughing with him.

After a few moments of contented peace Nathaniel screwed up his little face and let out a sudden, ear splitting wail. Bea started, dropping the pad to the floor and shuffling away from him as fast as she could. She covered her ears with her hands, looking horrified at the noise her tiny new friend was making.

“Your kid.” Tony said, lifting Bea onto his lap as he sat up straight.

“I know.” Clint swung his legs off the couch and pulled Nathaniel towards him. “Hey bud,” He picked up the crying baby. “What’s wrong? You’re definitely not sleepy. You’re not hungry, you only had a bottle an hour ago. Do you need a diaper change? Ergh…” Clint grimaced. “Yeah you need a diaper change.”

Tony laughed at him. “I don’t think many things can top how I felt when my days of dirty diaper changing were over.”

“Ha. Ha. I won’t be long.” He held Nathaniel with one arm and grabbed the diaper bag with the other.

Once they were out of the room Tony removed Bea’s hands from her ears.

“Baby loud.” She frowned.

“You used to be as loud as Nathaniel you know.” Tony told her.

“Nuh-uh.” Bea insisted, shaking her head.

“Yeah-huh. You did, maybe even _louder_!” He teased.

“Noooo!” Bea giggled. “Dada?”

“Yeah princess?”

“Why baby cry?”

“Babies cry because they can’t talk and if they can’t talk then they aren’t able to tell us what they want or what’s wrong.”

“So Unc’ C’int jus’ has guess?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“No’ easy.”

“No it’s not Iron Baby.” Clint confirmed as he and Nathaniel returned to the room, ruffling Bea’s hair as he passed. “I’m glad _you_ understand.” He winked at her and she laughed, Tony rolled his eyes. “So what do you think of your new little cousin Bea?” He asked, sitting down on the couch next to Bea and Tony.

Bea considered Nathaniel carefully, locking her blue eyes onto the baby’s pale brown ones. Nathaniel let out an abrupt little laugh and smiled his gummy little smile and Bea grinned back at him.

“I like him.” Bea nodded.

Tony and Clint both laughed.

“Looks like it’s good news mini hawk, you can stay.”

Nathaniel briefly turned his smile to Tony before focussing his attention fully on his new friend. Bea removed herself from Tony’s lap and crawled carefully to Clint and Nathaniel.

“Wer’ gon’ be frien’s fo’ever.” She told him, Nathaniel reached out and grabbed the hand she offered him tightly, still burbling happily. “Bes’ frien’s.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Much love and as always, any kudos or comments are greatly appreciated!


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